Italy budget deal threatens EU push over fiscal rules - Weidmann

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FILE PHOTO: German Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann delivers a speech during a dinner of the Hellenic Bank Association in Athens, Greece, August 30, 2018. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

BERLIN (Reuters) - A compromise Italy reached with EU authorities on its 2019 budget weakens Brussels’ hand in pressing members of the euro zone to stick to the bloc’s fiscal rules, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said on Saturday.

“The original promise to cut the deficit has been compromised,” Weidmann told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. “It makes it difficult for the Commission and other governments to press for solid state finances in the future.”